Amplifying Voices: Engaging and Disengaging with Colonial Pasts in Amsterdam

Abstract

As the metropole and main harbor city of a colonial, maritime empire, much of Amsterdam's development has been the direct or indirect result of colonial activities. Yet, many aspects of colonialism and its lasting entanglements were not (widely) spoken about. In response, within the cultural sphere, de-colonial engagements have arisen across various institutions and related to multiple aspects of colonialism, most prominently the topic of slavery. This paper identifies and analyzes recent examples of such de-colonial engagementse.g., the exhibition Afterlives of Slavery, the installation Blood Sugar, and the publication Words Matterwhich have created or amplified conversations about colonial pasts. It seeks to show that artists and activists are often the initiators of these challenges to existing paradigms and perspectives, but that afterwards these voices are amplified by cultural and scientific institutions, before resonating within the public sphere. The recent (2019) controversy surrounding the use of the term "Golden Age" is a case in point. Yet, despite these amplifying de-colonial conversations, there are still significant silences and absences, revealing the borders of tolerance in terms of dealing with colonialism in the contemporary. The intention is therefore also to understand how these voices are not only amplified but also potentially altered or even limited as they move from activist arenas, through cultural institutions, into the wider public eye.

Decolonizing colonial heritage: New Agendas, actors and practices in and beyond Europe

“…Discrimination and racism are ever-present in Amsterdam despite its image as a tolerant city (Wekker 2016). Recently, however, there has been stronger opposition and protests against racism have escalated with museums choosing to collect and exhibit these (Ariese 2021). In Dutch BLM protests in 2020, structural, institutional, and individual racism was overtly linked to Dutch colonialism in speeches and on protest signs.…”

“…5 As quoted on the exhibition page of the Stedelijk Museum website. 6 These and more examples are discussed in greater detail in Ariese (2021). 7 Two recent exhibitions in Amsterdam focused on South Africa, Good Hope:…”

Capturing Contentiousness

“…This goes beyond internally inspecting their collections, but also involves engaging with the wider research community and stakeholders at symposia such as Inward Outward, 3 and Decolonizing Museums. 4 Imbalances in heritage representation and presentation have been flagged as problematic by researchers from various fields such as bioethics [4], museology [1,15] and social sciences [5,14]. The debate revolves around how the visibility of historically marginalised people can be increased and how a multifaceted perspective on colonial pasts can be presented better to make museums more inclusive.…”

“…For example, the Amsterdam Museum published a statement in 2019 that they would not use the term "Golden Age" anymore in their exhibitions to refer to the Dutch 17th century. 1 The National Archives of the Netherlands states that they "explore the possibility of explaining language that was acceptable and common in the past and providing it with contemporary alternatives", meanwhile "keeping the original descriptions, because they give an idea of the time in which they were made or included in the collection". 2 The size of heritage collections makes investigating and manually replacing or contextualising problematic language impossible.…”